What is the theme for next month? I'm DYING to know. Also: How do I submit, where, and how do I view others' submissions to vote? And, is the winning-story thread the "Writing Challenge- The winning entries", (Multi-page thread 1 2 3 ... Last Page), by Starkers?

Given the lack of participation which has been a problem for a while with the monthly contests I'd say we let them rest for a while until there's enough interest in them again. If you want the challenge back just start a thread and if there's enough support it can start up again.

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That's too bad. I was just thinking maybe I would give it a try sometime, but I am spending most of my writing time on my first fan-fiction story. Maybe if you guys revive it one of these days I will enter.

I know this is over a month old, but I would like to offer some suggestions. I'm busy with college at the moment, but I'd love to see the challenge come back.

What if it was done on a seasonal basis instead of monthly? For example if the next one started on the first day of winter (December 21nd this year, I believe) then the deadline could be one week before the first day of spring, leaving a week for voting before the next one starts. The extended time frame would also give people time to recover from unexpected fits of reality getting in the way.

Also, lets open it up a bit. Yes, this is a Trek forum, but we do sometimes see other fandoms represented in this fanfic section. Why not let them play in the challenge too? I think that would give people a lot more to work with, and possibly generate more interest.

IWhat if it was done on a seasonal basis instead of monthly? For example if the next one started on the first day of winter (December 21nd this year, I believe) then the deadline could be one week before the first day of spring, leaving a week for voting before the next one starts. The extended time frame would also give people time to recover from unexpected fits of reality getting in the way.

Also, lets open it up a bit. Yes, this is a Trek forum, but we do sometimes see other fandoms represented in this fanfic section. Why not let them play in the challenge too? I think that would give people a lot more to work with, and possibly generate more interest.

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I'm not sure about that. First of all, the winner of the previous challenge has the right to set the theme and the limitations. They're free to include other fandoms or crossovers if they want. We've had those in the past.
However, most people are unfamiliar with everything that's out there which generally makes it harder to understand a single story told in that universe. That's why I'm a bit wary of making that a rule.

Cobalt, may I recommend that you produce a new theme and give it a whirl this month?

After being away for several years (except for one misbegotten act last year), it just seems to me that a lot of people who used to submit regularly for contests have become so wrapped up in their personal story lines they have not entered anything in the contest.

Maybe the mods and/or site owner can help here by some kind of award for the chosen story each month/quarter/year/light year/time travel distortion. Once suggestion: maybe a note on the main forum page: A note congratulating the winner and pointing readers to that posted story? Or maybe there is some bling someone might have to give out to winners, like old Lost in Space memorabilia or something?

Please note: I am not voting for this post as an excellent post to read....

On a personal level I don't think there's any real future in prizes donated by others offering of any real incentive for people to enter these contests - fan fiction is by its very nature a labour of love for want of a better term, not something that is done for any sort of a reward.

Perhaps I'm throwing a curve-ball in here, or completely off the mark, but does anyone else think there is any mileage in the idea that the concepts being generated by winners might be a little TOO open? For example concepts like "revenge" or "betrayal" are sometimes so wide in their scope that it can be difficult to distil down into an actual story?

Could a more narrow concept help focus the mind? Something like "your chosen crew answers a distress signal from a vessel thought lost a century earlier, but they are not the only ones to have responded..."

I do have some but I don't want to influence the debate too much. That said, we also had narrower themes.

I imagine that some of the problems the challenge was plagued by before its hiatus could be remedied by not having challenges that often, i.e. using the proposed model of challenges running a season. Presumably, more people would find the time to read, comment and vote on the stories and to write them in the first place, too, of course.

Also, a story idea might present itself over the course of a longer time to authors who at first can't connect to the theme of the current challenge. I don't know about others but I like to have two weeks set aside for writing so if I only come up with a story idea three weeks into a monthly challenge I discard it because the time isn't there to work out the details.

Anyway, I'd propose we try the thing with longer running challenges and see where it gets us. If Cobalt Frost is still up for it he may set a new challenge that ends some time before the beginning of spring (there should be a week or so for voting). I think it would be okay if it started before December 21st because of the rather busy time around Christmas.

Are we doing this challenge? I was about to say that I could try and get something done. I have a few ideas rolling around in my head. Haven't tried to plot the story yet. Just wondering because I think it would be nice to do some more writing in here, and I, admittedly, haven't been around for awhile. I just have a hard time coming up with ideas to write about so this challenge is great for me.

As for ideas to improve the challenges, how about we have a thread where we kick around ideas and then we vote on which challenge we want? It might mean there are more entries and it would give people who haven't won the chance to come up with a challenge (some new ideas, too).

Question: if we're doing this challenge seasonally, do we want to use the first days of winter/spring/summer/fall as the challenge start dates, with a week or two for voting at the end of the "season block"?